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Florida KYM business briefs

Tampa-based Coosemans Tampa Inc. built a cooling facility adjacent to its operation on the south side of the Tampa Wholesale Produce Market.

The new warehouse more than doubles Coosemans’ cold storage capacity, said Justin Warren, general manager.

The building features three full-service truck bays, floor to ceiling racks and increases Coosemans’ distribution efficiencies, Warren said.

“It increases our ability to get trucks in here,” he said. “That has been one of the toughest things we have had going on here, as it’s been hard to back in a semi. This gives our trucks plenty of space to maneuver.”

Warren said the building should also allow the specialties distributor to stock more items.

He said space limitations prevented Coosemans from carrying many items.

Harvill’s Produce moves into distribution center

Harvill’s Produce Co. is working in a new distribution center.

The Orlando, Fla.-based foodservice distributor relocated to a larger 9-acre facility that includes 87,000 square feet of capacity, about four times as large as its older operations in Orlando’s industrial district.

The new facility, on 8775 S. Orange Ave., is 6 miles from the previous operation and includes 38,000 square feet of refrigeration, five times the capacity of the older operation, said Ernie Harvill, president.

Near the Florida 528 toll highway, the building easily connects to interstate highway access and features more room for arriving and departing trucks, Harvill said.

It also offers additional expansion options, he said.

Harvill’s relocated to the building, which also includes office space, during the summer.

Produce Distribution Center purchased

The Jacksonville, Fla.-based Produce Distribution Center LLC is now owned by The Merchants Co. of Hattiesburg, Miss.

In June, Merchants, a broadline foodservice distributor, completed its purchase of the foodservice distributor, which was previously owned by Larry Movsovitz and other partners.

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About the Author:

Doug Ohlemeier

Doug Ohlemeier, who has written for The Packer since 2001, serves as eastern editor, a position he has held since August 2006. He started at The Packer as a staff writer after working for nearly a decade in commodity promotion at the Kansas Wheat Commission, where he was a marketing specialist.
Doug worked in radio and television news writing, producing and reporting for seven years in Texas, Missouri and Nebraska.
He graduated from Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, in 1984, with a bachelor of science degree in broadcast journalism and a minor in history. He earned a master’s in corporate communications from the University of Kansas, Lawrence, in 1991. In college, he served as a news editor of the daily O’Collegian newspaper and interned in radio and television news departments.